visiting london on a shoestring is like being thrown into a life-sized game of monopoly without being able to collect two hundred on passing go. you pass by all the familiar names - leicester square, trafalgar square, king's cross.. but you never really buy anything.
when we arrived yesterday around seven am, it was already light out. first stop - velda's uncle joe's place in clapham north. it's a really nice house, perfect for living alone. uncle joe is Reallyreally nice, he not only gave up the master bedroom for us but even stocked up on stuff for our bfast. (:
we tubed to enbankment to see the thames, the london eye, big ben and parliament houses, from where we walked like mad - trafalgar square to visit the national gallery (nice art work pls) and st-martin's-on-the-fields; leicester square to looksee and visit leicester park; along regent and oxford streets (more monopoly places btw).. you get the idea.
london buskers are really cool. they not only play the guitar, but also the bagpipes and the sax. there was this bagpiper outside the national gallery, and his music was beautiful. it had that slightly melancholic tone that bagpipes always give, and it totally suited the cold wind and dreary drizzle. speaking of which, i would like to tell you that i finally understand what people mean when they say london weather is miserable. the weather here was totally dreary and drizzly both days we were here, save for the occassional five minute burst of sunshine (and warmth).
london buildings are really cool too. i love the whole brick thing. it makes me feel like the house is nice and sturdy and safe. i like. people should build nice honest brick houses more!!!
to catch chicago at the cambridge theater, we played a game of amazing race. (actually we were lost la.. so because we thought we were going to be late, we started running along the streets of london and asking people for directions -btw very few people actually can give exact directions to cambridge theater, for some strange reason- and arrived at the theater six minutes before the musical was to start. it was pretty good, except that we were all damn sleepy so T.T i don't think we fully appreciated it.
today was just a mega tube everywhere day - camden town, king's cross, hyde park, knightsbridge, victoria, covent garden, waterloo.. we really exhausted the one day pass i think. we couldn't get onto platform nine and three quarters, guess no wizard's school for us. :\ hyde park was really lovely, many pretty landscapes and adorable duckies to feed.. harrods was Damn Big, and i really felt like buying everything in the food halls but no money T.T so we only picked up a small gift for uncle joe. mmm somehow in the process of locating buckingham palace from victoria station, we ended up at westminster cathedral (hahaa Yes, we were that far off) so we visited it first. i really liked it. they have many small chapels, apart from the main worship area.. and there was a chapel dedicated to st. patrick and the saints from ireland. it really reminded me of my grandpa. hahaa. anyway, we managed to catch the changing of the guards at buckingham, where it was again raining (sigh) and then we Got Lost Again trying to get back to the underground.. in the end we went past the wellington memorial and somehow landed up in hyde park corner station so we just got in and went to covent garden to meet up with wongshihuiiiiii (: wongshihui rocks la.. she took us to kintaro, this jap/korean place to eat dinner - VeryVeryVery nice. if you read this babe, thanks! it was really good to see youuuu! (: meet up soon in singapore ya! besides shihui, we also met up with kevinkok who is doing his two month europe tour. wanted to have a coffee together but it was kindof late and everything was closing so we just stood around and talked for a bit before coming back. yep.
tmr morning we go to paris!!! (: it's a whole new board game!
